Premier League
August 23, 2009
Fulham
0 - 2
Chelsea
Premier League
16:00 BST, August 23, 2009
Craven Cottage, England
Referee: A Marriner
Fulham 0-2 Chelsea
Scoring Summary
| Fulham | Chelsea |
|---|---|
| Didier Drogba (39') | |
| Nicolas Anelka (76') |
Teams
| Fulham | Chelsea |
|---|---|
| 1 Mark Schwarzer | 1 Petr Cech |
| 5 Brede Hangeland | 26 John Terry |
| 18 Aaron Hughes | 6 Ricardo Carvalho |
| 3 Paul Konchesky | 12 John Mikel Obi |
| 4 John Pantsil | 3 Ashley Cole |
| 20 Dickson Etuhu | 17 José Bosingwa |
| 13 Danny Murphy | 8 Frank Lampard |
| 16 Damien Duff | 15 Florent Malouda |
| 11 Zoltan Gera | 13 Michael Ballack |
| 25 Bobby Zamora | 39 Nicolas Anelka |
| 23 Clint Dempsey | 11 Didier Drogba |
| Substitutes | |
| 10 Erik Nevland | Michael Essien 5 |
| 6 Chris Baird | Deco 20 |
| 7 Seol Ki-Hyeon | Ross Turnbull 22 |
| 15 Diomansy Kamara | Salomon Kalou 21 |
| 19 Pascal Zuberbühler | Branislav Ivanovic 2 |
| 2 Stephen Kelly | Daniel Sturridge 23 |
| 17 Bjorn Riise | Sam Hutchinson 41 |
| Substitutions | |
| Diomansy Kamara for Zoltan Gera (63) | Deco for Frank Lampard (81) |
| Chris Baird for Danny Murphy (70) | Sam Hutchinson for José Bosingwa (86) |
| Erik Nevland for Bobby Zamora (75) | |
| · Squads: Fulham | Chelsea | |
Blues ease to Fulham victory
Chelsea climbed to second place in the Barclays Premier League as they preserved their 100% start to the season with an easy 2-0 win over Fulham in the south-west London derby at Craven Cottage.
Goals in each half from Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka settled the contest in Chelsea's favour.
The Blues have made a fabulous start to the season under new coach Carlo Ancelotti and the scoreline could have much higher had visitors taken their many chances.
Chelsea wasted a chance to punish Fulham as early as the 12th minute when Drogba was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by Fulham captain Danny Murphy.
Michael Ballack elected to try his luck with the free-kick from 25 yards out in a central position but put his effort a yard over the bar.
The Blues had dominated the opening half but had failed to add a cutting edge to their possession.
John Obi Mikel had Mark Schwarzer flinging himself to his right in the 21st minute when the Nigerian midfielder despatched a 20-yard volley towards the top corner. However, fortunately for the Fulham goalkeeper, Mikel's effort flashed wide of the upright.
Fulham responded quickly but a cross from Murphy was easily held by Petr Cech in the Chelsea goal.
The home side had done little to suggest they had the firepower to trouble Chelsea's rearguard.
Chelsea continued to press for an opening goal but their final ball was a disappointment on numerous occasions.
Captain John Terry was an example of their growing frustration when he tried his luck from 25 yards - but Schwarzer was left untroubled by Terry's piledriver as it soared over the bar.
But Chelsea finally broke the deadlock in the 38th minute when a fine three-man move left Fulham floored.
Frank Lampard slipped the ball through to Anelka, who in turn put Drogba in the clear with a clever pass.
The Ivory Coast international made no mistake as he slipped the ball beyond the advancing Schwarzer for his third goal of the season.
It was just reward for Chelsea's first-half domination and a perfect example of how to pass the ball through an opposing defence.
Drogba managed to get clear of the Fulham defence again moments later but he was ruled marginally offside.
Fulham almost fluked an equaliser in the 50th minute when Murphy's deep cross into the penalty area was headed over his own goal by Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho.
But Chelsea's domination was soon restored and Drogba almost grabbed a second in the 54th minute when he latched on to a clever lob by Anelka.
This time, however, the Ivory Coast striker was denied at the second attempt by Australian goalkeeper Schwarzer.
Ancelotti's side were in total control and Florent Malouda should have done better when he shot wide on the hour - his angled drive flashing wide the far post.
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson replaced the ineffective Zoltan Gera with Diomansy Kamara in the 62nd minute to loud cheers of approval from the home fans.
The home side just could not keep possession and the frustration of the home fans was all too evident.
Chelsea's neat approach play had everything, guile, surprise, intelligent running off the ball and accurate passing.
The only real surprise of the afternoon was that the scoreline remained 1-0 to the Blues.
Fulham could not cope with Malouda's pace and trickery on the left flank and but for some last-gasp defending from the home side, Chelsea would have increased their advantage.
The Cottagers were dealt another blow in the 69th minute when captain Murphy went off injured to be replaced by Chris Baird.
Chelsea went two goals in front in the 76th minute when Drogba turned supplier for Anelka.
The France international rounded Schwarzer and coolly slotted the ball home to make sure of all three points for Chelsea and preserve their 100% start to the new season.
Chelsea made four changes from the side that defeated Sunderland last Tuesday but it made little difference to the cohesion as goals from Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka fired them to a 2-0 victory at Craven Cottage.
"Deco was out and Essien was out for this game,'' said Ancelotti. "But it was a good line-up. Essien has played all the games so far, so I wanted to give him a rest. He will play the next game. We have to follow this line.''
Ancelotti was also left drooling at the Drogba-Anelka combination in attack. "I am sure they can play together because they are fantastic strikers and have different qualities,'' said Ancelotti.
"For the first goal, Nicolas put a fantastic pass through for Didier and for the second goal, Didier put a fantastic pass through for Nicolas. They did a very good job together. Nicolas is a very complete striker. He can play in the centre and on the right and left, he can play behind the striker.
"Our idea today for Nicolas was that he would stay a little bit behind Didier. In the first-half he played a little bit on the right and our play was not so good but it improved in the second half because he took a position more in the centre.''
Chelsea are now second in the Barclays Premier League with a 100% record from three games and Ancelotti admitted it had been the perfect start to his reign at Stamford Bridge.
"It is a great start,'' said Ancelotti. "We wanted to do this. It is a good moment for the team. We have to maintain this now. The players have a good motivation and no problems. It is very good.
"It is the first time we have not conceded and that is good. The defensive line played very well. They had very good concentration and movement. They played a fantastic match.''
Fulham boss Roy Hodgson accepted that Chelsea had been the better side and revealed how Jonathan Greening's agent prevented him from signing in time to play any part in the game.
Greening has joined the club on a season-long loan from West Bromwich Albion but Hodgson said the deal was held-up for six hours while the player's agent waited for his own fee to be agreed.
Hodgson also hinted that his side looked tired after their midweek Europa League victory over Russian side Amkar Perm.
"We certainly played like we were tired,'' said Hodgson. "I thought our energy levels were low. We kept Chelsea at bay for long periods by keeping a decent shape but we never got close enough to disturb them as much as we would have liked to have done.
"In the end we lost and deservedly so. Looking at this game over 90 minutes I thought Chelsea deserved to win it. Both their goals came from clearances that bounced back to them. We didn't look like conceding a hatful of goals but on the other hand I didn't think we had anything near enough like the possession we would have needed to cause them more problems.
"They have the technique and pace to cause problems for the opposition and they caused problems for us today and we lost the game. They didn't pepper our goal with shots but they had control of the game after half-time and we didn't have enough in our locker.''
As for Greening's situation, Hodgson added: "His agent took six hours to agree the agency fees so between 12.30 and 6.30pm, the agent was refusing to let him sign because his fee had not been agreed. When he eventually signed at 6.30pm it was an hour-and-a-half too late.''